Dick Enberg will go out in style after an illustrious career as a sports broadcaster.
The San Diego Padres will host the MLB All-Star Game in 2016 and that will be the seventh and final season Enberg will be the team's play-by-play broadcaster. Enberg made the announcement on Wednesday night before the Padres played the San Francisco Giants.
"In culminating 60 years of sports broadcasting, it has been a tremendous thrill to be the TV voice of my hometown San Diego Padres, and I'm tremendously excited that I will have a continuing TV role through the 2016 season, an All-Star Game year for San Diego," Enberg said in a release, via Beth Maiman of MLB.com. "Our family is sincerely grateful to Padres ownership, Ron Fowler and Peter and Tom Seidler and CEO Mike Dee for providing the opportunity for an extension through 2016. While I have decided that 2016 will be my last as the primary play-by-play announcer, I will always be a Padre, and look forward to a continuing role. "Ultimately, with high hopes I'll be one of the many in line that will someday soon embrace a World Series championship in San Diego."
Enberg was last year's recipient of the Ford C. Crick Award, which is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to reward excellence in broadcasting. He became the 39th winner of the award after nearly 20 years of calling MLB games for the Padres and California Angels.
He spent the last six seasons as the play-by-play television host for FOX Sports San Diego. Prior to joining the Padres, Enberg spent 11 years with CBS as a broadcaster for multiple sports and 25 years with NBC Sports before that.
"His resume includes calling 42 NFL seasons, 28 Wimbledons, 10 Super Bowls, nine Rose Bowls, four Olympic Games, three heavyweight boxing championships and a World Series. He has also won 14 Emmys and nine Sportscaster of the Year awards," writes Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Enberg, 80, also received the Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as the Gowdy Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his broadcasting work for those sports.
He began his career as a broadcaster in 1969.
Check out his announcement below:
